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Yokozuna Memorial Show
The Yokozuna Benefit Memorial Show was a professional wrestling event produced by World Xtreme Wrestling (WXW) promotion which took place on 29 November 2001, at the Lehigh Valley Sports Zone (WXW Arena) in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It was held in memory of wrestler Rodney "Yokozuna" Anoa'i, the nephew of promoter Afa Anoa'i and former two-time WWF World Heavyweight Champion, who died of pulmonary edema in Liverpool, England during a tour of Europe the previous year. The show served as a benefit show for his widow and two children, Keilani and Justin. Eleven professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card, with two including championships. Wrestlers from the Heartland Wrestling Association, Jersey All Pro Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation appeared on the show, as did members of the Anoa'i family including the Wild Samoans, Afa and Sika Anoa'i, Afa Anoa'i, Jr., The Tonga Kid, and HWA Tag Team Champions The Island Boys (Ekmo and Kimo). WWF Hall of Famer Bob Backlund and Extreme Championship Wrestling manager Bill Alfonso also made surprise appearances during the event. The main event was a standard wrestling match between Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack and Mafia), and their mystery opponents, The Headshrinkers (Rikishi and Samu), in their first match together since 1994. In the semi-main event, The Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker) wrestled the Acolytes Protection Agency (Bradshaw and Faarooq). Another featured match was Shannon Moore versus Jamie Noble, in a revival of sorts of the feud between World Championship Wrestling rivals 3 Count and the Jung Dragons, which Moore won. A second former WCW star, and graduate of the Wild Samoan Training Center, Billy Kidman beat Low Ki, and The Tonga Kid and The Hungarian Barbarian defeated The Twin Tackles (Gene Snitsky and Robb Harper), accompanied by Bill Alfonso, in a non-title match for the WXW Tag Team Championship. Two of the participants, Malachi and Supreme Lee Great, both called the show one their all-time favorites; SLG named the show one of the top three highlights of his career. Sal Corrente, co-founder of WrestleReunion, was also in attendance and later wrote "It was a night that won’t easily be forgotten if I ever forget it". The WWF's involvement in the event was featured in WWF Raw Magazine in March 2002. Show results 29 November 2001 in Allentown, Pennsylvania (WXW Arena) *Tommy Suede (w/ Ariel) defeated Supreme Lee Great (w/ Little Jeanie) *Afa, Jr. © defeated Nuisance (w/ Valentina) to retain the WXW Television Championship *Inferno, Fargo, Reno and WXW Cruiserweight Champion Shane Black defeated Billy Dream (w/ Jessica Daly), Protege, B.A.D. and Doink *The Tonga Kid and The Hungarian Barbarian defeated The Twin Tackles (Gene Snitsky and Robb Harper) (w/ Bill Alfonso) *The Island Boys (Ekmo and Kimo) defeated Cory K and Malaki for the HWA Tag Team Championship *Big Dawg Molsonn defeated Eric Cobian *Billy Kidman defeated Low Ki (w/ Dylan Dean) *Shannon Moore defeated Jamie Noble *Homicide defeated Crazy Ivan *The Brothers of Destruction (Kane and The Undertaker) defeated the Acolytes Protection Agency (Bradshaw and Faarooq) *The Headshrinkers (Rikishi and Samu) defeated Da Hit Squad (Monsta Mack and Mafia) (w/ Dylan Dean) See also *List of professional wrestling memorial shows External links * Results Category:World Xtreme Wrestling events Category:Professional wrestling memorial shows Category:2001 events